Complete Game Notes
Game 1: Washburn (6-5 in 2019) at Lincoln (1-10 in 2019)
Date/Time: Thursday, Sept. 2 - 6:00 p.m.
Location: Jefferson City, Mo.
Stadium (Capacity): Dwight T. Reed Stadium (5,500)
Tickets: Available online at http://lubluetigers.com/tickets
Adults - $10 | Children Under the Age of Six - Free  | Non-LU Students/LU Faculty & Staff - $5 | LU Students (With ID) - Free
Streaming - https://themiaanetwork.com/lubluetigers/
Radio - KJLU 88.9 FM - Jefferson City, Mo.
Audiocast - http://radio.securenetsystems.net/v5/KJLU
Live Stats - https://lubluetigers.com/sidearmstats/football/
Series - WU leads, 7-0

THE KICKOFF 
On Thursday, Sept. 2, for the first time in 657 days, the Lincoln football team will play a regular season football game at Dwight T. Reed Stadium as the Blue Tigers host Washburn at 6:00 p.m. CST. It will be the first game for both programs since November 16, 2019, as the 2020 season was lost due to COVID-19 protocols.

Lincoln's last game against Washburn came on Sept. 5, 2019, and was a memorable contest. Hosea Franklin broke a nearly 70-year-old single game rushing record, as he eclipsed the old LU mark of 245, set by the legendary Leo Lewis, with 251 yards against the Ichabods. Franklin, who returns for his junior season in 2021, earned All-MIAA first team honors in 2019 after leading the league in rushing with 1,359 yards. Washburn won the match-up in Topeka, Kan., however, 49-27.

LU went 1-10 overall and in the MIAA in 2019. WU went 6-5, both overall and in league play.

QUICK HITS 
- Lincoln and Washburn will meet for the eighth time on Thursday, with WU having won each of the last seven games. The teams first met in 1989, and last met in 2019, with the Ichabods winning in Topeka, 49-27.

- The Blue Tigers will try to win a season opener for the second time in the past three years, as Lincoln defeated Lane, 10-7, in the first game of the 2018 campaign on a neutral field. A victory over the Ichabods would be LU's first season-opening win at Dwight T. Reed Stadium since 2011, when the Blue Tigers opened the campaign with a 35-3 victory over Avila.

- On Thursday, Lincoln will try to open a season with a victory over a current MIAA opponent for the first time since 1980, when LU won at Fort Hays State, 21-13. The last time the Blue Tigers opened the season with a home victory over a current MIAA program was in 1961, as LU beat Emporia State, 22-6.

- This will be the second-straight year that Lincoln and Washburn will play in a season-opener.

- 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of Dwight T. Reed Stadium. The Blue Tigers first played in the venue on Sept. 25, 1971.

- The Blue Tigers enter the 2021 season with an all-time record of 261-464-25.

- Malik Hoskins was named the interim head coach of the Blue Tigers in May of 2019, and was promoted to the full-time position at the end of that year. He enters the week with an LU record of 1-10 and an overall record of 4-17.

- Lincoln is in second-consecutive year, and its 25th overall as a football-playing member of the MIAA. The Blue Tigers, who were an associate member of the GLVC from 2014-18, previously played in the MIAA from 1970-89 and from 2011-13. The MIAA is the fifth different conference in which the Blue Tigers have been a member, joining the Midwest Athletic Association, the Great Lakes Football Conference, the Central States Football League and the GLVC.

- This is the 90th season of Lincoln football. The Blue Tigers first fielded a team in 1920 and played every year until 1943, when Lincoln took a year off due to World War II. LU then played each season from 1944-1989. The football program was disbanded at that point, but was brought back in 2000.

BLUE TIGERS TO WATCH
OFFENSE - Hosea Franklin was the only played in the MIAA to rush for over 1,000 yards during the 2019 regular season, and he finished the year with a Lincoln single-season record of 1,359 yards. His play culminated in Franklin earning first team all-region and All-American honorable mention status, as well as All-MIAA first team distinction.

Tori Hicks also returns after averaging 3.2 yards per carry in the running game and scoring a pair of touchdowns in the passing game. Dre'Shon Alston and Chrisshun Robinson also caught touchdown passes in 2019. Zamar Brake, a transfer from DI program Saint Francis, enters the 2021 season as the likely starter at quarterback.

DEFENSE - TeAndre Skinner made 46 tackles, five of which went for a loss, in 2019, and is Lincoln's top returner on the defensive side of the ball. Also back is Elliott Albert, who totaled 31 takedowns, 3.0 tackles for loss and a sack as well as four pass break-ups. Quan Mason also have five tackles for loss in 2019, and registered the team's only safety that season.

Piere' Jones, who broke up four passes and had a fumble recovery, and Cody Bagby, who had both a hurry and a fumble recovery, each made 17 tackles in 2019. Zyan Thomas-King is back after making 18 tackles and breaking up a pass, and Jaylon Mosley made 15 tackles in 2019, 12 of which were solo.

Lincoln will have a number of new players on the defensive side of the ball, including Otis Jackson, who had three tackles in a spring exhibition vs. Texas-Permian Basin, and Charles Robertson, who had five takedowns in the spring against Division I opponent Nicholls State. Terrion Williams made three tackles against Nicholls State.

SPECIAL TEAMS - The LU special teams will have a new look in 2021, with all three positions in the kicking game manned by new players. Clayton Winkler will serve as both the team's punter and kicker. Winkler averaged 37.2 yards per kick with a long of 54 yards in Lincoln's exhibition contest vs. Texas-Permian Basin this past spring. Another new player, Winston Ausmer, joins Tori Hicks as the likely kick and punt returners.

WASHBURN AT A GLANCE
Mitch Schurig passed for 2,319 yards and 21 touchdowns against 10 interceptions in 2019, and ended the year by earning All-MIAA honorable mention status. Washburn returns a pair of running backs who combined for over 1100 yards and 14 touchdowns in Taylon Peters and Zach Willis. In the receiving game, James Letcher, Jr. led WU with 64 receptions for 824 yards and seven touchdowns, and he also had a rushing score. Jace Williams caught five touchdown passes in 2019, and added three more TDs in the ground game.

Linebacker Grant Bruner is Washburn's top returner on the defensive side of the ball, as he totaled 73 tackles in 2019 and recorded 8.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, three pass break-ups and a pair of quarterback hurries, as well as a blocked kick. Kevin Neal, Jr. made 68 tackles that year, and Marquis Manning broke up 12 passes while intercepting three passes. Braden Rose also returns for the Ichabods after a 2019 campaign in which he had 4.5 sacks, made 7.5 tackles for loss, and was credited with hurrying the quarterback on five plays.

Both of Washburn's kickers are back in 2021. Kameron Lake went 4-for-9 on field goals with a long of 36 yards, and averaged 59.1 yards on kickoffs with 42 touchbacks. In the punting game, Lane Spiker averaged 40.8 yards on 36 kicks, with nine going at least 50 yards, including one that went 62 yards. Letcher, the main returner, scored a touchdown on a kickoff in 2019.

THE COACHES
Malik Hoskins is in his second season as the head coach of the Lincoln football team. Hoskins was elevated to the position of interim head coach prior to the 2019 season after spending two seasons serving as Lincoln's offensive coordinator. In his first year as the head coach, he led the team's return to the MIAA, culminating with a 27-9 win over Northeastern State on Homecoming. After the 2019 season, Hoskins was named the full-time head coach of the Blue Tigers. Hoskins also was the interim coach at Lane in 2015.

Craig Schurig is entering his 19th season as the head coach at Washburn, and has guided the Ichabods to three NCAA Division II playoff appearances and the 2005 MIAA championship. Schurig, who enters the season with 121 career victories, has also directed Washburn to four bowl appearances with three wins in those games. Schurig is only the fifth MIAA coach with 100-plus wins. 

WHAT A RUSH: Hosea Franklin set the Lincoln standard in rushing in 2019, finishing with 1,359 yards, a new program record. Franklin is the only MIAA player who rushed for over 1,000 yards in the regular season, and he finished the season ninth in NCAA Division II in both total rushing yards and rushing yards per game (128.8). He also ended the year ranked 30th in DII in all-purpose yards per game (137.7).

ALL-AMERICAN:  Hosea Franklin's 2019 season did not go unnoticed, as rising junior was named a Don Hansen Division II All-American honorable mention. That followed Franklin being named to the Don Hansen All-Super Region 3 first team, as well as his earning All-MIAA first team honors.

FASTER THAN A LOCOMOTIVE:  While Hosea Franklin frequently had impressive performances running the ball in 2019, none was quite as special as what he achieved in the season opener. Franklin gained 251 yards against Washburn on the road in LU's first MIAA football game since 2013. That total eclipsed the former single game mark of 245 yards, set nearly 70 years earlier by the legendary Leo "The Lincoln Locomotive" Lewis.

ALL-MIAA:  In addition to Hosea Franklin, LU brings back two other players who were named to the All-MIAA team following the 2019 season. The starting center that season, Cyril Spells, is once again primed to start in that role this year after he helped paved the way for Franklin's historic 2019 season. Also back is Quan Mason, who recorded a safety and made five tackles for loss in 2019. Both Spells and Mason were selected to the All-MIAA honorable mention list.

DISCIPLINED APPROACH:  The Blue Tigers were rarely penalized in 2019, with Lincoln being flagged only 68 times on the year, the fifth-fewest in the MIAA. More importantly, LU did not give up many yards on those miscues, as Lincoln led the league, and finished 31st in NCAA Division II, with 564 penalty yards on the season.

TAKE FIVE:  Lincoln also was disciplined when it came to the passing game, throwing just five picks in 2019. LU threw the fewest interceptions in the MIAA, and the ninth-fewest in NCAA Division II.

JUMP ON THE BALL:  One of the best teams at jumping on loose footballs in the country in 2019 was Lincoln. The Blue Tigers recovered 11 fumbles, and finished the year ranked fourth in the MIAA and 28th in Division II.

GET DEFENSIVE:  TeAndre Skinner leads LU's returners from 2019 on the defensive side of the ball, as he made 46 tackles that year. That includes 35 solo takedowns, which were the 18th-most by an MIAA player that year. Skinner additionally recorded five tackles for loss, resulting in LU opponents losing 20 yards.

SPRING BALL:  Due to caution regarding COVID-19, LU did not play a football season in 2020. Lincoln did, however, play a pair of exhibition games in the spring. The Blue Tigers played NCAA Division I Nicholls State as well as Texas-Permian Basin.

OUT OF STATE:  The Blue Tigers will spend a lot of time on the road in 2021. In addition to playing more games on the road (six) than at home (five), only one of LU's away games is inside the state of Missouri. Lincoln will play Northwest Missouri on Sept. 9, but will play the remaining road games in Kansas (at Fort Hays State on Sept. 18, at Pittsburg State on Oct. 16 and Emporia State on Nov. 6), in Oklahoma (at Central Oklahoma on Oct. 2) and in Nebraska (at Nebraska Kearney on Oct. 23).

TICKETS:  For the first time ever, fans can purchase their tickets to Lincoln's home football games online. Head to http://lubluetigers.com/tickets to purchase both season and individual game tickets for the 2021 season.

LU PLAYS ON KJLU:  Veteran play-by-play announcer James Stanley returns to the airwaves to provide Lincoln fans the action on the field in 2021. Stanley will call all five of LU's home games, and fans can listen to him live on 88.9 FM KJLU. Those not in the Jefferson City area can also listen to the games on KJLU's website, http://radio.securenetsystems.net/v5/KJLU.

GEAR UP FOR THE GAME:  LU fans can get everything they need for the game at www.BlueTigersStore.com, the official online store for LU athletics. Everything from jerseys to office supplies can be found on the site, with a portion of all sales going to benefit Lincoln athletics.

UP NEXT:  The Blue Tigers open their 2021 road slate next Thursday (Sept. 9) as Lincoln travels to Maryville, Mo. to play Northwest Missouri at 6:00 p.m. CST.